Sixers' Joel Embiid (finally!) plays 82 games | Is he already a Top-10 player in the NBA?

Joel Embiid's knee collided with Bucks guard Khris Middleton, he fell to the floor and rolled around, in pain. Embiid limped off the floor.

He was fine.

It's all good.

The Sixers star, the center at the center of "The Process," returned to the game at the start of the second quarter, the Sixers leading 43-31. During a game at various points in which the Sixers led by as much as 20 points, they eventually turned the ball over too much and sloppily sputtered to a 118-110 loss. They could have risen to 5th in the Eastern Conference standings with a victory. Instead they remained in 6th, just 0.5 games ahead of the 7th-place Bucks.

Whatever.

Hundreds of Sixers fans, brought together by the cult of the Rights to Ricky Sanchez podcast — the preeminent Sixers podcast — flew to Milwaukee (through Chicago) to watch Embiid play, to boo the Bucks, delayed derision for the baffling NBA decision to award Malcolm Brogdon the Rookie of the Year award last season.

#JusticeForJoel, they called it.

The non-Philadelphia narrative was that Embiid didn't deserve the award because he only played in 31 games last season. Now he's played 82.

Sunday marked the 82nd game of Embiid's career. He was drafted in 2014, and missed two full seasons due to injury before even playing in his first Sixers game.

That was all part of the process. In that time, Embiid became The Process.

Now he has a full season of work at his disposal.

Hundreds of fans spent money flying to Chicago and bussing to Milwaukee to boo an average NBA player on a random weekend in March, really, because of Embiid.

That's fanaticism at its finest, but it's also more than that.

The Sixers had one of their worst losses of the season on Sunday night, but by the time Embiid came back out onto the Bucks' floor to thank the Sixers contingent for making the trip, that was, for at least a moment, forgotten amidst a celebration of The Process.

Embiid spoke to the crowd, thanked them, took a picture and then tweeted about it.

Embiid is healthy, the Sixers are thriving, and that's something worth celebrating.

So, with that, here is a celebration of the first 82 games of Embiid, a Sixers superstar years in the making, with a look at his numbers, accomplishments, injuries, performances, his cult following, social media savy and what lies ahead.

FULL 82-GAME STATS

Points: 1,834 (22.4 ppg)

Rebounds: 814 (9.9 rpg)

Assists: 164 (2.0 apg)

Blocks: 168 (2.4 bpg)

Steals: 62 (0.7 spg)

Three-pointers: 89 (1.1 3-pointers)

Minutes: 2,387 minutes (29.1 mpg)

Record: 44-38

CAREER HIGHS

Points: 46 (Nov. 15, 2017 vs Lakers)

Rebounds: 16 (five times)

Assists: 8 (Dec. 12, 2017 vs. Timberwolves

Blocks: 7 (Nov. 15, 2017 vs. Lakers)

Steals: 3 (four times)

Three-pointers: 6 (Dec. 28, 2017 vs. Blazers)

Minutes: 48 (Dec. 15, 2017 vs. Thunder)

HOW HE STACKS UP

Embiid had most blocks in first 82 games (168) since Pau Gasol had 169 as a rookie in 2001-02

Embiid more points in his first 82 games (1834) than Tim Duncan, Hakeem Olajuwon, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony or Kevin Durant did. Of that group, only Duncan was an All-Star, like Embiid, within his first 82 games.

Embiid's scoring average (22.4) is the best for a Sixers player in his first 82 games since Allen Iverson, who averaged 23.6 points in 1996-97 and the start of 1997-98.